The Margin

Organization

The Jesuits

Also known as Jesuits, Jesuit.

The Jesuits first appear as Fyodor Pavlovitch's insult for Smerdyakov's clever religious reasoning. When Smerdyakov argues about denying Christ under torture, Fyodor calls him a stinking Jesuit and treats the word as shorthand for casuistry. At this horizon, the order is less a local institution than a charged name in a family quarrel over faith and cleverness.

V-V. The Grand Inquisitor

Alyosha links the Jesuits with the Roman Catholic vision of authority in Ivan's Grand Inquisitor poem, while Ivan presses the idea of an institution that would correct Christ's work for the happiness of the weak.

XI-IX. The Devil. Ivan’s Nightmare

Ivan's apparition returns to Jesuit confessionals in comic and bitter anecdotes, folding the name into Ivan's feverish argument with belief, unbelief, and moral permission.

This entry is sealed. You have not yet read far enough to open it.

The Margin

Suggest a correction

The Jesuits